Former MMA fighter Sharice Davids elected to Congress by Kansas voters

From a failed attempt at making it on “The Ultimate Fighter” to making political history on Election Day. How’s that for a turnaround?

On Tuesday, former MMA fighter Sharice Davids was elected to Congress. She defeated Republican incumbent Kevin Yoder to capture Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, the first time a Democrat has won the suburban Kansas City seat in a decade.

Davids’ victory was history-making as she’s one of two to become the first Native American woman to serve in Congress and the first openly gay person to serve in Kansas.

“We have the opportunity to reset expectations about what people think when they think of Kansas,” Davids, 38, said during her victory speech, according to The Kansas City Star. “We know there are so many of us who welcome everyone, who see everyone and who know that everyone should have the opportunity to succeed.”

Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, spent five years working on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota before she was selected for the prestigious White House fellowship program in 2016.

Just four years ago, Davids was fighting to make a dream come true of joining the UFC. She tried out for Season 20 of ‘TUF,’ which crowned the inaugural women’s strawweight champion. Davids, who graduated from Cornell University, began fighting as an amateur in 2006 and turned professional in 2013. She went 5-1 as an amateur and 1-1 as a pro.

Although she failed to make the ‘TUF’ cut, Davids did submit current UFC strawweight Nina Ansaroff and earned a bonus from UFC President Dana White.